The first Beyond Skyrim dev diary shows footage from Cyrodiil, Roscrea and Atmora

Major Morrowind-related announcement coming in the new year.

Of all the ambitious mods recreating areas of Tamriel, Beyond Skyrim is the one I'm most excited about. It's essentially made up of seven separate projects aimed at remaking parts of the Elder Scrolls world—including Cyrodiil and Morrowind—in the Fourth Era, when Skyrim is set. Yesterday, the developers released their first ever development diary, showing just how much progress they've made in each region, and you'll find footage from Roscrea, the lost continent of Atmora and Elsweyr.

The video, above, runs through each region's progress in turn, starting with Roscrea, an island located in the Sea of Ghosts north of Solitude, Skyrim. The first landscaping of the island is nearly complete, quests and characters are largely written, and most of the major towns and villages are designed. The team is even making progress on creating a unique Roscrean language for the island's inhabitants—both alive and undead.

In Cyrodiil, the team has numerous cities, including Chorrol and Skingrad, at the level design stage, while others are still in art development, including the iconic Imperial City. The region of Colovia has nearly reached first-pass level design completion, and the team has begun shortlisting fully-fledged companion characters that will travel alongside you. It's worth noting that the Bruma portion of Cyrodiil is already complete, and was released last year. Chris was impressed by it, and the fact that Beyond Skyrim has already produced something polished is the main reason I'm hopeful about its future.

In Atmora, the lost continent to the north of Tamriel, the team have completed design of the fjord and Staglands regions, and are working on a custom weather system. They've also made progress on the local quests: the finished version will have five main quest chapters as well as numerous side quests.

In the video, you'll also find details about Iliac Bay, Elsweyr and Black Marsh, which look to be earlier in development. The team wrapped up the diary by teasing a "very special announcement" for the Morrowind project in the new year. They've been working hard writing characters for the region's numerous dungeons and towns—could the announcement be that a portion of the map will be playable soon, similar to Bruma in Cyrodiil? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.